Tag Archives: Privacy

There are lots of reasons why you may want to put a lock on your text messages. They may include keeping your terrible-two toddler from messaging your boss random gibberish, or possibly to keep your sister from snooping and coming across some racy, drunken photos of you in your birthday suit that you regrettably wish you could unsend, or maybe even perhaps to keep “Person A” from seeing your correspondence with “Person B.” To each their own. I’m not judging, but in case you were wondering how to do it, this is a pretty straight forward app that gets the job done and/or keeps you from spending your night sleeping on the couch.

The Android application is called SMS Lock and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store by clicking here, signing in with your Gmail and choosing the install option, or simply by downloading it straight from your device from the Google Play Store app.

Step 1: Download the application by clicking Install. Here is a photo of what the app icon looks like. It has a picture of an envelope and a little lock in the lower right hand corner.

Step 2: After the app is successfully installed, open it and click on change lock pattern.

Step 3: This screen will pop up.

Step 4: Enter you desired lock pattern and press Continue.

Step 5: Re-enter your pattern and press OK.

Step 6: Press Enable Lock as well as Messaging. This will activate your pattern that you just created, and whenever you try to access your text messages, you will be prompted to enter the pattern.

Step 7: This is what the screen will look like when the pattern is enabled. If you choose to disable the pattern, simply press Disable Lock.

You may be wondering why this is necessary if you already have a security lock on your device. Well this app will give you peace of mind, as it requires you to enter your pattern each and every time you go into your MESSAGING app. This is helpful, because you may have your device set to lock after 5 minutes of inactivity, which essentially means you better hope no one picks up your device and starts snooping within those 5 minutes before your device has had a chance to go into lock mode.

There are many other apps similar to this one available in the Google Play Store and can be found simply by searching. If you would like to download one that can also be set to lock access to the various other areas of your phone, I have found this to work very well.

So, text away my friend, and rest assured all your dirty little SMS/MMS secrets will be safely hidden away for your eyes only, unless of course you forget to exit out of your messaging app by pressing the home button after you are done . Then you’re just SOL. In the event that this occurs, I would suggest getting quickly acquainted with your new sleeping arrangements.